Serial ATA (SATA)

Developers can Trust Intel Leadership in Serial ATA

Through industry leadership and innovation, Intel continues to pave the way for faster and more efficient data transfer by helping to define new standards for Serial ATA through involvement with the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO).

Serial ATA defined

Serial ATA (also known as SATA or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is a computer bus interface between host bus adaptors and mass storage devices. Serial ATA host-adapters and devices communicate via a single high-speed seven-wire serial cable instead of a parallel bus used in previous technologies.

Serial ATA today

Thanks to industry leaders like Intel, Serial ATA has replaced parallel ATA (PDF 3.64MB) in over 99% of shipped desktop PCs. With mechanical hard drives and high-performance flash drives transferring data at speeds beyond the limits of previous-generation specifications, second-generation 3.0 Gbit/s SATA interfaces are now shipping in high volumes, and are prevalent in disk drives, solid state devices, and both PC and server chipsets.

Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI)

Intel has led the way in Serial ATA development by defining the standardization of the Serial ATA host controller interface (AHCI) for many years. AHCI specifications describe the register-level interface for a host controller for Serial ATA. The specification includes a description of the hardware/software interface between system software and the host controller hardware, and is intended for hardware component designers, system builders and device driver (software) developers.